Institution UW-Madison
Admit Term Fall 2016-2017
Career Undergraduate
Intended School College of Letters and Science
Intended Program General Course -BS Degree
This is the information written in the offer I got, but I applied to the Computer Science.
I am so confused.
Is UWM a kind of university that makes all student do general study in first year and allow specifying major in the second year?
or did I get offer from General course instead of computer science because they could not give me the offer? (In this case, I will need 5 years to graduate?)
I sent an email to admission office long long time ago but I still didn’t get a reply so I am so confounded.
Also what the is the placement test about?
Really? I have to fly to the US to take math and English tests even if I did my IB?
Students will also be able to take CBT tests through our partner, Castle Worldwide. Castle Worldwide has testing sites throughout the United States and the world. There is an additional charge for testing at a Castle Worldwide testing center. If none of these options works, students need to contact the campus they are planning to attend for other options. For a list of possible Castle Worldwide testing centers, please use the following link:
Unlike at some public universities, UW does not generally admit freshman directly into specific Colleges within the University. Most students start in the College of Letters & Science and, at their freshman orientation (called SOAR) – which international students do just before the rest of the freshman move in – advisors will work with you to develop a schedule which starts you on the path of meeting the prerequisites for admission to your desired program, whether that is College of Engineering, Business etc.
See what you can do to maximize your IB scores so that you can apply for credit for those scores both to meet general education requirements and to pass out of intro classes if that would make sense for you, given your academic goals.
As razed1 noted, no, you do not need to physically travel to WI to take the placement tests. They are given online and the test scores are used to determine whether a student places out of basic competency in english composition and math skills, as well as placement for math courses. Each test is an hour. There is also a foreign language placement test for students planning on continuing with their foreign language. Well worth taking that as well, though I cannot recall if IB scores can be used for foreign language placement. I would imagine that information is on the website.
Coming in with credits from IB is useful as priority in class registation for second semester and beyond is based on how many credits a student has completed. So, if a second semester freshman has a ton of credits from AP/IB testing, they get to register before students with fewer credits, preserving the ability to craft a better class schedule.
All entering freshmen are admitted to the university as a whole, regardless of intended major. You need to meet the requirements for a major to be in it- not critical until you decide to graduate in a few years. Most students are in L&S at UW (no M), especially freshmen. Stating a major for admissions is useful in assigning SOAR advisors, it has no influence on getting in.
Foreign language years in HS equate to semesters in college. If you do not plan to continue in the language at UW there is no reason to take the placement test. Students who complete the semester of the language level they place into at UW can get retroactive credits for HS work. Not worth it for most as you can use the time to take other classes instead first semester. BA needs 4 semesters (years) of one language or 3 of one plus 2 of a second language for graduation- L&S. BS needs 3 of one. Many/most will have completed the foreign language requirement with HS work. btw- you can get a BA or a BS in most majors (L&S)- slightly different breadth requirements. Your major does not determine BA/BS- your breadth reqs do (and you can choose if you meet both).